Men’s Basketball: Junior forward shoots Blue and Gold to victory against St. Lawrence

The men’s basketball team (2–5) earned its second win on the year last night, defeating St. Lawrence University (2–3) by a score of 89-80 at Ben Light Gymnasium.

The Bombers rebounded from a disappointing previous game, a one-point loss to rival SUNY-Cortland.

Junior forward Andrei Oztemel put up a career-high 36 points to bolster a Bomber offense that had not scored more than 80 points all season. Oztemel set a program record by hitting nearly 73 percent of his three-point attempts, going 8 for 11 from downtown.

Junior center Sinjin Wightman said Oztemel was the difference in the team’s victory.

“It was all Andrei for the most part – he just kind of went off,” Wightman said.

Oztemel said he was in the zone, and St. Lawrence’s zone defense enabled his scoring outburst.

“I got some open looks and was able to knock them down,” Oztemel said. “The shot felt good. They went zone the whole game, so usually the wing is where they play kind of a matchup zone, so I was able to get some open spots on the wing and knock them down.”

Rossi said the game proved the type of team South Hill can become if all systems are running smoothly.

“We finally had that game where we all clicked,” he said. “Jordan and Andrei getting open and us finding them, and we finally started knocking down shots,” he said. “We can do that every game, and now we have the confidence to do it.”

The Bombers opened the game on a 8-0 run and did not trail at any point during the contest. The team shot just under 56 percent from the field and held St. Lawrence to 48 percent shooting.

The Blue and Gold’s next game is Friday against New Jersey City in the Juniata College’s Doc Greene Tournament in Huntingdon, Pa.